Archive for 2013 - Page 62

Electronica duo Daft Punk have taken a turn towards humanity with their latest album, Random Access Memories, which almost exclusively uses live instrumentation. The 13-track effort brings together a spectacular cast of guest musicians including Julian Casablancas, Pharrell Williams, Paul Williams, Nile Rodgers, Chilly Gonzalez and others. “Making music with musicians and bringing back a certain craftsmanship, that was totally...

There were a couple of unplanned trends this week on No Treble… starting with the top two how to’s being focused on open strings: one to get warmed up and the other to get funky. And funk was another: the open strings lesson I just mentioned, and a video demo on developing the funk/soul bass groove. There was sad news...

Adam Stevens has impressed us in the past with his solo bass arrangements, but I’m not sure I’ve enjoyed any more than this one. Here’s Adam’s arrangement of “I’d Rather Be With You”, from Bootsy Collins’ 1976 album Stretchin’ Out In Bootsy’s Rubber Band.

It’s been ten years since the Phil Jones Briefcase was introduced, and the company is celebrating the milestone with a limited edition version of the compact bass amplifier. The Phil Jones Briefcase Ultimate will be a modified version of the original, bumping up output from 100 watts to 160 watts. Other upgraded features include new higher power Pirhana speakers with...

Bassist Francois Lamouche shares this video of him performing his arrangement of the song from The Legend of Zelda – A Link to the Past. He says the video is dedicated to his friend, T. Moustache, who “asked me a billion times to do this arrangement.” Francois also shared, “If you want Bass to control the world : share my...

Peter Hook and The Light are gearing up for a special North American tour this fall in which the group will play the first two albums from the bassist’s previous band New Order. The band will perform both 1981’s Movement and 1983’s Power, Corruption & Lies in their entireties at nine cities across the U.S. and Canada, starting September 10th...

I’ve just spent the past hour tearing apart my room, searching through notebooks and drawers, on top of shelves and beneath the bed, and I still can’t find what I’m looking for. Frantically, I called a friend to create a distraction (secretly hoping that what I’m looking for will magically appear right in front of me), and his response was,...

Bassist Damien Langkamer put together this funky video to teach us how to build on the groove. (And how about that tone?) Damien shares, “I’m taking a few simple groove ideas and expanding them each time round, to build on the groove. There’s two main ideas in this, a funky melody section and a choppy bridge section, both start off...

Billy Talbot, the longtime bassist Neil Young’s backing band Crazy Horse, has just released his latest album with his own band. On the Road to Spearfish is a nine-track album and the band’s second album following the 2004 release, Alive in the Spirit World. Talbot began performing solo in 1999, playing small venues until officially forming the Billy Talbot Band...

This week we check out the Ursa from KR Guitars, a striking multi-scale bass that’s handmade by luthier Kevin Robertson in Vallejo, California. While the bass can be built with whatever woods are requested, this particular bass caught our eye with its 5A California Claro Walnut top and 5A flame maple back. The rest of the bass’s body is The...

Started in 1983, Revsound is a company that offers handmade bass cabinets. Proprietor David C. Luke’s deep interest in sound and sound production has driven his work to create powerful cabinets with an emphasis on staying lightweight. Luke builds all of the cabs to order in his Effingham, New Hampshire workshop. The RS series includes a 1×10, 2×10, and 4×10...

Here’s a cool tapping tune from Alex Bershadsky, who employs a constant pulse in his left hand with arpeggios while bringing out a beautiful melody with his right hand.